Both Conservative and Labour administrations have now refused to release research showing PIP payments are vital for disabled people’s survival, exposing the ideological nature of planned welfare ‘reforms,’ writes Dr DYLAN MURPHY
The egos have landed
Some hard political choices must be made in Trump’s post-truth era – starting by abandoning any illusions about the ‘special relationship’ and waking up to the need for bold policy-making on the climate, argues ALAN SIMPSON

IN THE court of Emperor Trump the oligarchs rule. At least they think they do. But as in any feudal system, even the oligarchs are just courtiers.
Courtier power is conditional, not on the amount of cash you shower upon the emperor but on the ability to constantly praise his every word. The battleground between courtiers then becomes “who gets closest to the emperor’s ear”?
At the moment Elon Musk has Trump’s ear. Musk is not just an increasingly right-wing media mogul who helped rig the election in Trump’s favour. He is keen to do the same for the AfD in Germany, the Reform Party in Britain and any number of right-wing movements across the globe. This is what modern feudalism looks like.
More from this author

Centrist governments around the world face rejection by their electorates as neoliberalism fails to deliver the public prosperity it never promised – and the same fate awaits Labour unless it starts to deliver for those struggling to survive, says ALAN SIMPSON

Undaunted by Big Oil success, ALAN SIMPSON looks at alternatives to lack of courage and imagination stifling the Labour government and it policies

As deadly weather events spread death and destruction, ALAN SIMPSON argues that Labour’s first Budget has failed to address the converging crises of climate breakdown and democratic alienation that require transformative change

Following the wave of far-right violence, people came together across the land, demonstrating that we are so much better than the racists would have you believe and a better Britain can be built, writes ALAN SIMPSON
Similar stories

SOLOMON HUGHES examines how Labour has gone from blaming Tory deregulation for our economic woes to betting the nation's future on more of it

Undaunted by Big Oil success, ALAN SIMPSON looks at alternatives to lack of courage and imagination stifling the Labour government and it policies

As deadly weather events spread death and destruction, ALAN SIMPSON argues that Labour’s first Budget has failed to address the converging crises of climate breakdown and democratic alienation that require transformative change